Blue skies and sunny days
by villalala
Summary: Once a year Arthur stays home the whole day. Once a year Alfred tries to cheer him up, this year succeeding. Human AU, USUK oneshot


**A/N:** It's been a year since I wrote USUK, so please be gentle :P

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hetalia

* * *

**3rd of July**

Arthur was having his usual five O'clock tea with scones, staring at his landscape-calendar in blues. The calendar was full of marks and notes, reminding Arthur of all the tasks he had to do for school and when they would have to be returned to the teachers. There was only one day when he didn't have any marks on the day, nothing at all. The boy with emerald green eyes took a little sip from the cup, then placed it down and sighed rather loudly. It happened only once a year but each year it was just as terrible.

Next to the plate where the scones were, his phone vibrated, telling Arthur that he just got a new text message. Without even opening the message he knew who it was from. The blonde rolled his eyes, taking a bite from the scone he was holding in his hand. The fingers of his free hand slowly tapped the table, reaching for the phone every now and then, but never really taking it. Finally, after eight long minutes of reaching for the phone and then drawing his hand back, Arthur grabbed the phone and unlocked it.

_1 new message_, the display said. Arthur lazily tapped the screen to open the message. He sighed again as he read it, shaking his head slightly.

_TO: Arthur_

_FROM: Alfred_

_SENT: 17:18_

_Yo, Artie! You comin' tomorrow?_

Arthur took in a deep breath. This fool would never leave him alone, would he? This was the ninth message this week, each of them like the previous ones. And it was only Thursday.

_TO: Alfred_

_FROM: Arthur_

_SENT: 17:26_

_Please, Alfred, stop calling me by that nickname and use my real name instead. I would really appreciate it._

The boy barely got to put his phone down when a new message came. Arthur stared at the screen is disbelief. Was Alfred really waiting for Arthur's messages with his phone in his hand? Didn't he have anything better to do? Arthur put the phone away, not looking at the message, stood up and took the cup and the plate to the sink. When done, he returned to the kitchen table, staring at the phone that was sitting there. Should he tell Alfred to stop sending him messages? He was not in the mood for chatting with his American friend, not in the mood to listen to his invitations to the stupid party. Alfred, if anyone, should know that Arthur wasn't going to come, and nothing would change his mind about that.

Arthur nodded his head in agreement with himself that he should put a stop to this. Sure, Alfred was his friend -a very dear friend, to be specific- but basically everyone in this doomed city knew that when everyone else was celebrating the Independence Day, Arthur would just sit in his empty home, alone. And yet, every year, Alfred –that idiot who just happened to have his birthday on 4th of July (and what everyone thought was so cool)- would invite him to his birthday party. Every year, even though 3 years ago Arthur had clearly said that he wanted to be alone that day.

Arthur leaned to the table, taking his phone and looking at the message. He was getting a bit irritated now, as Alfred didn't seem to get his "I don't want to argue about this again" –hint.

_TO: Arthur_

_FROM: Alfred_

_SENT: 17:27_

_Okay._

Arthur stared at the phone for good five minutes, his eyes wide from shock. That was it? Usually Alfred would argue until the world's end, telling Arthur that he had to come to the party. "Everyone else is coming", like he usually said. But this time it was just "okay". It is a miracle, Arthur thought as he put the phone to his jeans' back pocket and walked to his workroom. Since it was a big day tomorrow, he obviously wouldn't have school, so he would as well finish some essays. Arthur wanted to get an A so badly, but lately he had been busy with every subject he had and these two essays about Renaissance art had just been put aside as Arthur wasn't really that interested in paintings or anything like that. But now every other task he had was done and he could easily focus on these two.

Arthur worked his butt off with school work for the next three hours, writing so intensely he thought that his laptop would catch fire any minute. But, it didn't, and Arthur got everything done. He leaned back in his chair, sighing in relief and stretching his arms up to the ceiling. Soon he found himself checking the time from his phone and wondering if Alfred had sent any more messages. 20:12, no messages. The boy raised his eyebrows in surprise. It wasn't very Alfred like to sulk like this. Or maybe he was just trying to get _Arthur_ to send _him_ a message. Well, mister, that's not going to happen, Arthur huffed to himself and put the phone away once again. This was actually quite wonderful, to have peace like this.

Arthur walked around the house, trying to get the numb feeling from his legs. He hadn't really realized he had been sitting for three hours straight. So, now he had to pay the prize. As Arthur went to the living room, a little gift package on the couch caught his attention. Oh yeah, Alfred's present. He had forgotten about it. He was supposed to bring it to him today, to give it to him at school, but he had been in such a hurry the whole morning that he had forgotten to take the gift with him. Arthur sat down and took the package with blue gift paper that had white stars on it and red-white ribbon on top of it to rest on his lap, looked at it for brief seconds and smiled. Wow, how creative. But he had used the same style for years now and each year Alfred seemed to love it even more and more, even though he never got the present on the actual day.

Suddenly his phone beeped and violently took Arthur back to Earth. At what point exactly had Arthur put the phone to normal mode? Wasn't it on vibrate? Arthur slid the screen and read the newest message.

_TO: Arthur_

_FROM: Alfred_

_SENT: 20:36_

_Hehe oops, I was supposed to send you another message but my battery died! Hope you didn't think I was mad at you ;)_

Arthur accidently let out a snort as he read the message. This was so Alfred. Only he would look for the charger for three hours. And it was also so Alfred to put that weird smiley face at the end.

_TO: Alfred_

_FROM: Arthur_

_SENT: 20:40_

_I didn't. Anywho, do you mind if I give your gift to you on Monday? I forgot to take it with me today and since tomorrow the school's aren't open you have to wait…I'm sorry._

Arthur was sorry, to be honest. He felt bad for skipping Alfred's birthday every year and now he had even forgotten to give him the present in time. Maybe he was studying too hard; it was killing his brain.

It didn't take long before Alfred sent his answer, but now Arthur was a bit scared to read it. He knew, for sure, that Alfred would either say "then give it to me tomorrow" or "come give it to me now". Both ways were bad, because Arthur didn't want to go anywhere tomorrow or go to Alfred's place now; it was too late for that plus it looked like it was quite windy outside. Arthur just wanted to curl up to a blanket and watch movies with a teacup or two, not run to the other boy's house to give him a present that contained a new clock –it was kind of a joke because Alfred ran late from school way too often.

Instead of tossing the phone to the pillow that was a gift from Matthew –Alfred's brother that now lived in Canada-, Arthur read the answer Alfred had sent him.

_TO: Arthur_

_FROM: Alfred_

_SENT: 20:42_

_Totally OK! Can't wait! Don't tell me you got me teacups again…_

Arthur blinked. Was this man saying that he hadn't liked his gift last year? Well okay, maybe it had been a bit tacky since Alfred didn't even drink tea –he was more of a coffee person.

_TO: Alfred_

_FROM: Arthur_

_SENT: 20:45_

_I didn't, but now I regret that. Coffee is bad for you (and no, I didn't get you cups to drink coffee from, either)._

Before Arthur even knew it, he and Alfred were bombing each other with messages arguing about whether or not coffee was bad for Alfred and if tea was good or not. They wasted two hours, Arthur laughing at the stupid messages Alfred sent him, hugging a pillow.

The clock on Arthur's wall said it was 22:53 when Arthur looked at it. He hadn't even noticed the time fly as he had talked with Alfred.

_TO: Alfred_

_FROM: Arthur_

_SENT: 22:55_

_I will go to bed now. Good night, Alfred. See you on Monday._

Arthur lazily walked to the bedroom, stripping just as lazily and then basically falling to the bed. He was so exhausted from writing the essays, it was unbelievable. Just when he was about to put his phone to silent mode, Alfred sent a message.

_TO: Arthur_

_FROM: Alfred_

_SENT: 23:01_

_Nighty night, Artie!_

Arthur found himself to be way too tired to send Alfred a message and tell him not to call him "Artie" because he hated it. Instead, he just closed the phone and fell asleep pretty much right after he closed his eyes.

* * *

**4****th**** of July**

Arthur opened his eyes and faced the light that was fighting its way through the bedroom window's curtains. What a cliché, Arthur thought, to wake up like this. He took his phone from his nightstand to check the time. 9:58. He had slept that long? Well, not like it would matter in any way since he had nothing to do.

After getting up (and being too lazy to dress up) and preparing breakfast –porridge that was supposed to do by heating it in the microwave, since Arthur had a terrible "habit" to burn any food he made- Arthur went to the front door to get the newspaper. As always, today the headlines were nothing but a special edition for the Independence Day.

He read the news in silence, eating the bad tasting porridge while listening to the clock tick on. He had the whole, now what should he do? Arthur took a look at the kitchen. He couldn't clean up since it was already as tidy as possible in everyone corner of the house. A shame, cleaning was a way to kill time and now he had to come up with something else.

Suddenly, just as Arthur was deep in his thoughts, trying to figure out what to do, someone rang the doorbell. Arthur nearly jumped out of his skin, shocked from the fact that there was someone on his door. He looked at the newspaper. It couldn't be the postman, the post was already here. All his neighbors were most likely already out in the city, celebrating and preparing themselves for the parade.

The doorbell rang again and Arthur was forced to go open the door. "I'm coming!" he yelled as he went to the door, opened it and-

"Alfred?" Before him stood a blond guy, a bit taller than Arthur, smiling a bright smile. He was wearing his usual clothes; blue jeans an a sky blue hoodie.

"Morning. Did I wake you up?"

Arthur was like a fish, gasping for air on dry land, opening and closing his mouth, being clumsy with words. "N-no, I…I woke up some time ago…What…Why are you here?" he finally managed to ask. Alfred laughed and looked over Arthur's shoulder.

"Not gonna invite me in?" Arthur blinked in confusion but stepped out of the way so his friend could get inside. He did, closing the door behind him and turning to face –still confused- Arthur.

"So~Where's my gift?!" he grinned and made his way into the living room.

"It's…it's on the couch. But didn't we agree that I'd give it to you on Monday?" Or had he dreamt that?

"Well, yeah, but I figured I could come and get it", Alfred smiled and picked the present from the couch. "The same gift paper again? Sweet!"

"Alfred, what about your birthday party?" Arthur was confused. Why was the American guy here, in his house? He had never done this before. Sure, Alfred called every year on this day and asked if Arthur would like to come, even though he had said "no" many times. Or then he asked if he could do something to cheer the British boy up since he seemed depressed. But never before had he crashed into his home.

"I canceled it." Pardon? Arthur was getting more and more confused as minutes went on. Alfred? Canceled a party? Was this really the boy he knew?

"What do you mean 'canceled it'? What about your friends? They have spent money to buy you presents and now you just-"

"Arthur, the others can give their presents at school or when we see each other. I wanted to come to see you."

"Me?" Alfred sat down to the couch and patted the spot next to him, telling Arthur to sit down. Said boy did so, still flattered by the fact that Alfred had called off the party to see him. Usually Alfred was stupid and selfish and…well, basically everything else but this caring character that sat next to Arthur.

"Yes, you", Alfred answered and smiled warmly. "I want to know why you always lock yourself into your house on the 4th day." Oh. This subject. Arthur sighed. Perhaps he should explain it, finally. After all, Alfred was his very good friend who was obviously worried about Arthur.

"Okay."

And so, Arthur explained. He explained how he was bullied back when he was 11 and a new kid in town with an accent everyone seemed to hate. Every year, for four years, the same group of boys had beaten him up –especially on the Independence day- and told him that he wasn't welcome to the US. As years passed, the beat ups got more and more violent. Then Arthur had went to high school and the boys to wherever they had went to and it had stopped. Physically. But each year Arthur was scared to go out on Independence day, fearing that the boys would appear out of nowhere and beat him up again.

As Arthur finished, holding back tears and saying that it was stupid to tell something like this while wearing pajamas, Alfred was silent for several minutes, staring at the gift he was holding on his lap. Arthur immediately regretted that he had told such things on Alfred's birthday. But, Alfred seemed to disagree.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Earlier?"

"Yeah. I mean, every year I've been miserably sitting around at my parties, wondering why you weren't there."

"I'm sorry." Alfred looked up from the gift, shooting a glare at Arthur's emerald green eyes with his blue ones. He shook his head.

"Don't be. I'm happy you told me." Arthur just nodded and fell silent. It felt good that he had finally told someone about his trauma. It felt _really_ good. Suddenly Alfred shifted in his seat, leaning in closer and placing a tiny kiss on Arthur's cheek.

"Go change your clothes. I'm not going to celebrate my birthday with a sloth in pajamas!" Arthur was so shocked from the butterfly kiss that he didn't even bother to argue about the "a sloth in pajamas" –part. Before he was able to react to anything, Alfred stood up and ran outside.

"Wha- Alfred!" But Alfred was already outside, closing the front door after him. Arthur was slow to react, and soon his phone rang, filling the room up with music; it was Alfred. Things are getting even more weird, Arthur mumbled and answered the phone

"Alfred, the hell with you?! What are you doing?!"

"Go change your clothes, I'll cool down while you do so."

"Cool down?"

"Didn't you notice that I just kissed you?" Alfred sounded suspicious.

"I did", Arthur walked to the kitchen window and looked at the front yard. Alfred was standing there, his back towards the house. "Alfred, get inside."

"No." Arthur sighed and knocked the window. Alfred turned to look at him but then turned his face away again, almost immediately.

"If I change my clothes, will you then get inside?" God, what was with this guy? First he kissed Arthur, then ran off and now just stood outside like an idiot. What a fool.

"Yeah", Alfred mumbled to the phone. Arthur smiled and told his friend that he would be ready in five minutes.

After dressing up faster than Arthur ever had in his life, he rushed to open the door, yelling for Alfred to get back in. He did, grinning as he judged Arthur's clothing from head to toes.

"Nice." Arthur huffed and closed the door behind Alfred, following him to the kitchen.

"Alfred, please. I know you always hate the way I dress."

Alfred laughed and patted Arthur's back. "Well, maybe if you wouldn't wear those weird vests-"

"Alfred!"

"I was kidding."

"Save your jokes to someone who can laugh at them, please."

It was funny how Arthur and Alfred just joked around, none of the two speaking about the little kiss Alfred had suddenly dropped to Arthur's cheek. They drank tea –or, Arthur drank tea and Alfred whined about how Arthur didn't have coffee or coke in his house and Arthur told him not to say things like that, of course he didn't have such disgusting drinks in his kitchen- and chatted at the kitchen table for many hours, and before either of the boys even knew it, the clock was showing that the time was already four.

"Arthur, I'm hungry…" Alfred whined as his stomach gave a loud grumble that filled up almost the whole house, making Arthur snort.

"Let me guess –you only drank a cup of coffee in the morning."

"Actually", Alfred grinned, "I drank two cups of coffee. And ate a cookie." Arthur rolled his eyes and asked if Alfred would like to have something to eat, then.

"Ew, no", answered Alfred and stuck his tongue out, "your food tastes terrible. You always burn it."

"I don-"

"Can't we go to MCD or something?"

"You know I hate fast food."

"C'mon dude, it's my birthday and I won't even get cake! Plus this is the first time we're spending the day together." Funny, but to Arthur the way Alfred said "spending the day together" made it sound like they were a couple…But he soon shook that thought away and looked at Alfred who was staring at him with puppy eyes, pleading Arthur to go to McDonald's with him.

Arthur was silent for some seconds, thinking about it. Maybe they could go, he could always buy a salad or something. And if it would make Alfred so happy…

"Fine." Alfred rose his hands towards the ceiling as if he just had won championship or something. "But only if I can eat salad and we take the food with us and eat here, I hate hamburger restaurants."

"Sure, whatever you say!"

* * *

18:16, said Arthur's clock when they were finally finished with the food. First it had taken time to find a proper place that wasn't full of people, then Alfred had had a hard time to decide what he should eat (and Arthur had complained about that to him the whole time) and then Alfred ended up ordering so much food that it took some time for him to finish it all. Surprising or not, he actually ate it _all_.

"You ready now?" asked Arthur who was leaning back on the couch –Alfred had insisted that they would eat in the living room. Alfred nodded and tossed the last paper to the floor. The other boy shot him an angry glare. "You have to pick that up, you do know that, right?" Alfred nodded again but did nothing at all to actually do something. Arthur sighed.

"Alfred." Said boy looked at Arthur's eyes. "Now, please."

"Fine, mom." With that, Alfred stood up, collected the paper (and other trash he had thrown there, including some more papers and an empty cup he had drunk coke from) and went to the kitchen to throw them to the trashcan. When he returned, he said something that at the same time flattered and shocked Arthur.

"I want to stay here over the night." Arthur, without any hesitation, yelled a "no" to his friend. Alfred frowned and crossed his over his chest. "And why not?"

"Well why can't you go home?" Alfred explained him that every year Kiku –one of Alfred's friends- or someone would stay over the night after the birthday party and now Alfred was too fond to that habit to sleep alone this year.

"I don't have any guest rooms, you know that", Arthur told his friend when he remembered that since the house was rather small, it only had had two bedrooms and Arthur had turned the other one into a workroom.

"It's okay. I can sleep with you." Alfred gave Arthur the brightest smile of all bright smiles and hoped that Arthur would say "yes", but all the British boy did was to stare at Alfred in disbelief.

"With me? No! I don't have any spare mattresses so that would mean you would be sleeping in…sleeping in…" Arthur was stammering with the words as he imagined Alfred sleeping together with him, in the same room, _in the same bed_.

"In your bed", Alfred finished the sentence for his friend and smiled even more. "But so what? I'm totally okay with that! Just show me where you keep your spare blankets and pillows!" And then Alfred just went to Arthur's bedroom, leaving a very irritated Arthur behind. He couldn't believe it. Alfred, just like that, had announced that _he_ was okay with sleeping in the same bed. But what about Arthur? Didn't anyone think about what he thought about this?! But, Arthur did follow Alfred to the bedroom and gave him a blanket and an old pillow from the closet, realizing that it would be much easier to just let Alfred stay –it was only for one night, after all- instead of arguing about it for hours; Arthur knew that Alfred wouldn't give up in this situation, he would argue until Arthur would be the one giving up.

Alfred smiled happily as the blanket and pillow were given to him, placing them to the bed and looking at them, a tune of victory in his voice as he said "Sweet! This is gonna be awesome!" and Arthur ended up rolling his eyes and sighing. This was going to be one long night…

* * *

Arthur yawned and checked the time from his phone. 22:04. Damn. He was surprisingly tired even though he had woken up only 12 hours ago…Or then he was just utterly bored as the horror movie they were watching now, both boys curled in to blankets, was the second one this evening. Alfred had went to rent three movies, so that meant that Arthur would have to watch one more. Alfred, however, seemed not to be bothered about the fact that he was scared of a fictional ghost that kept jumping into the screen every now and then, and just kept watching it.

After the movie finally ended, at 22:50, Arthur stopped his friend before he could put the third movie into the DVD-player.

"Alfred, I'm tired. Can't we just go to bed?"

"No, I want to watch this movie! It's the best one!"

"Just watch it on your own, I'm going to bed, with or without you." And Arthur did as he had said, leaving Alfred alone in the living room and going to the bathroom to brush his teeth. It didn't take long before Arthur saw Alfred appear to the bathroom door, staring at his friend from the mirror. Arthur turned around after he was finished with his teeth, raising an eyebrow.

"You got scared?"

"You know I can't watch horror movies alone. That was a dick move, to leave me alone like that."

"Watch your tongue, Jones!" Arthur snapped, pointing a toothbrush at the American boy standing before him. Alfred just moved the toothbrush aside with his finger and grinned.

"Yes, mom."

"Stop calling me that!"

Arthur just really, really wanted to go to bed and catch some sleep, but it seemed to be an impossible mission when this guy was around. Alfred suddenly took the toothbrush from Arthur's hand, walked to the sink, put some toothpaste to the green toothbrush he was holding and put it into his mouth, staring at Arthur's face the whole time and smiling like a fox –it was actually more of a smirk.

"Alfred, that's disgusting!" Arthur snapped and looked at the other blond in shock. "Put my toothbrush away, right now!" Alfred just continued to brush his teeth, the smirk never leaving his face (he looked really stupid because he was brushing his teeth and smirking at the same time). Arthur reached to grab the hand the toothbrush was in to take it, but Alfred managed to be a little bit quicker with his movements and held the toothbrush over his head, away from his friend's reach. Arthur was desperately trying to get back what was his. Nothing was more disgusting to him than someone else using his hygiene stuff!

"Alfred! Give me that, now." Arthur tried to use a threatening voice, but Alfred just kept on with smirking. His friend huffed angrily and finally got a hold of the toothbrush. However, Alfred didn't let go. After swallowing the toothpaste –disgusting, right?- he said

"You know, you haven't wished me a happy birthday yet."

"What?"

"You haven't wis-"

"I heard you the first time, thank you. But are you blackmailing me? With my toothbrush?"

"To me it seems like it's working", Alfred sang and leaned to the sink, pulling Arthur with him. Soon they were way too close to each other for Arthur's liking, and he felt blood rush to his cheeks as he blushed furiously, trying to keep a poker face on.

"My toothbrush, please."

Alfred just smiled and gave the toothbrush back –even though he didn't seem to be happy about Arthur not saying "happy birthday"-, and Arthur quickly washed it. "Disgusting", he mumbled.

"This is what we could have done every year, you know", Alfred suddenly said. Arthur didn't look at him, he just kept washing the toothbrush.

"Sorry."

"Don't be. We can do this every year from now on!" Now the Brit turned to his friend, shaking his head. No way he was going to do this every year –well, maybe he could spend time with Alfred on his birthday, but not like this!

It was 23:25 when they finally managed to change their clothes and go to bed, both of the boys tired from their little "fight". Alfred was in the bed first, snuggling into the blanket. Arthur hesitated. Sleeping in the same bed with Alfred after everything what had happened today…What a bizarre idea! However, Arthur lied down next to Alfred, face to the wall, whispering a good night. The American didn't say anything and Arthur thought that maybe he had fallen asleep already, so he closed his eyes. But soon he felt an arm sneaking to his waist, and he heard Alfred whisper something. Arthur's eyes immediately burst open.

"W-what?" Arthur asked as he hadn't heard what Alfred had said. He was too focused to the warmth what was coming from the body behind him, a body that was way too close to his own. Arthur found it quite hard to breathe properly.

"You still haven't wished me a happy birthday and it's almost midnight", Alfred whispered again and this time Arthur felt his hot breath tickle his neck. God, this was getting out of hand. He didn't move, though, just lied still and tried not to break the arm that was around him. Calm down, he kept telling himself and closed his eyes. Calm down, just calm down. This isn't that bad, it's okay.

"Arthur?" Alfred whispered and shifted a bit, rising to lean on his elbow and hovering over Arthur, his other arm still around the shorter boy. "Did you fall asleep?"

Arthur turned to lie on his back, opening his yes just to find out that Alfred was only inches away from him, staring at him with his blue eyes that seemed to sparkle in the little light that was coming between the curtains. Alfred raised an eyebrow, a questionable look on his face. Damn, Arthur found himself thinking, why was the guy so handsome like this? Or was it just the situation that made the other look incredibly sexy?

Without second thoughts Arthur just quickly pushed himself up a bit by leaning to his both elbows, placing a gentle kiss to Alfred's lips. Alfred kissed back right away, pushing Arthur's head back to the pillow and moved the hand that had been around Arthur's waist to rest on his chest.

"Mh" was pretty much like the sound Arthur made to protest against where this was going, and pushed Alfred away to his side so that the other male was lying on his back, and turned to lie on his side, face towards the wall again, and hoped that the darkness in the room would hide his blush.

"Happy birthday", he whispered and then buried his face to the pillow, almost ready to eat it up. The only response he got was a happy hum as Alfred, once again, wrapped his arm around his friend, burying his face to the blond hair and placing his body as close to Arthur's as he just could. And like that the two just lied there, Alfred drawing small circles to Arthur's stomach with his fingers and Arthur trying his best to fall asleep.


End file.
